Khloé Kardashian and Kim Kardashian may not support everything Tristan Thompson has done, but they certainly won’t cut him out of their lives either.
During Thursday’s episode of The Kardashians, the sisters both explained why they’ve continued to defend and support the NBA player, despite his “f — -ed up” actions in the past, including cheating on Khloé multiple times.
Their admissions came after Khloé, 39, opened up about Tristan, 32, and his younger brother Amari — whom he is the primary caretaker for, now that their mom Andrea died — living with her while his home gets renovated.
“I definitely feel overwhelmed and I guess stressed at times, but I’m not the one going through most of the pain here,” Khloé said in a confessional.
When asked by producers where her own relationship with Tristan stood, Kim, 42, wasn’t shy to express how she really felt — even if it would surprise fans.
“I know you guys are gonna hate me for this, and you’re gonna hate us, and you’re gonna think Khloé’s whatever,” she said. “It’s so crazy because he’s such a good friend and he’s such a good dad, but he just couldn’t get it together in that area of being a faithful boyfriend.”
The SKIMS founder continued, “You want to obviously hate him for that. Yeah, of course, his actions and who he was are so f — -ed up, I can’t deny that, and we’ve had our talks about it and had our fights about it… but he’s also shown so many decent things and has been a really good person and friend.”
Kim then revealed that Tristan not only proved himself as a good father to his and Khloé’s two kids — daughter True, 5, and son Tatum, 13 months — but also for her own four children, whom she shares with ex-husband Kanye West.
“When he saw me struggling with my kids, he stepped up,” she said. “He started showing up to the games, he picks them up, takes them to dinner, and will always come to my defense, especially if it’s stuff with with me and my ex, and I never really forgot that. I’ll never really throw someone away and act like I don’t feel like they can’t grow and evolve.”
Later in the episode, Khloé opened up about her own reasoning behind keeping Tristan in her life. “I’m not naïve to fact that my ex-boyfriend is living in my house and that we’re in really sensitive times,” she said in a confessional, acknowledging how “Tristan is in the very fresh stages of grieving [his mom].”
After emphasizing the boundaries she has put in place between them, Khloé noted, “I never want to be someone that anyone can accuse that I misled them when it comes to love. I think I’m so adamant about that because I’ve been on the receiving end of it and I just don’t think love is something you play with.”
“Tristan has said before [that] I’m his person,” she told cameras. “I’m not saying I don’t believe him but I’ve heard this, and of course, it’s angered me before because I’m like, ‘If I f — -ing am, then why have you treated me like this and how many times?’”
She added: “I love love, and I am a hopeless romantic, but that’s not gonna change how I feel and what happened.”
Despite Tristan previously doing her wrong, Khloé vowed to remain true to her morals. In a heart-to-heart conversation with her ex, she told him, “I want my karma to always be great. I’m not justifying anything you’ve done… and I’m strong enough that it’s not gonna break me.”
“We’re gonna be in each other’s lives for the rest of each other’s lives because of our kids, so I’m not gonna fight that, and I’m gonna make sure it’s as nice as possible for me,” she added.
In a confessional, Khloé elaborated further about their current relationship. “What happened between Tristan and I was not some small little incident. It was some massive situation that really was very traumatic experience for me and my life, so I’m not gonna forget it,” she said. “But I’m so proud that I’m able to be kind and mature and show my children that Mommy and Daddy can co-exist and be co-parents, and I’m able to be here for him when he’s in his time of need. Someone that I really did not want to look at just a couple months ago, I have living under my roof.”
She continued, “I lost a parent, I don’t wish that on anybody. I don’t care what you did to me, this is something beyond my pain. My moral compass is saying for me to be a good person and be supportive when someone is in need, so everyone do what your moral compass says, I’m gonna do what mine says.”
At the end of their conversation, Tristan praised Khloé for her “pure and great” soul and expressed his appreciation for his ex.
“You’re a good person at your core, that’s why I was with you,” she responded. “Everyone has done dumb s — — in their life, just not everyone does it on a public platform, which sucks … all of us, we’re always rooting for you, we always want the best for you. We believe in you as a person… and just remember, you’re not your past.”
New episodes of The Kardashians drop every Thursday at 12 a.m. ET on Hulu.